Roman Thrusting Spears

[ValentinianVictrix]

'As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches or a foot long, and were called piles. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty. At present they are seldom used by us, but are the principal weapon of the barbarian heavy-armed foot. They are called bebrae, and every man carries two or three of them to battle.' Veg. Bk1

Adrian, do stop using Clarke's translation. Where he got eleven inches from, I cannot imagine. Even the Latin text he was using (Scriverius 1670) has nine inches.

Unfortunately I'm forced to use Clarke at the moment as my copy is buried somewhere in a massive pile of books in a room covered in papers, magazines etc which I cannot access easily. I do appreciate the chiding though, I am aware of the Clarke defects but I still maintain that the Spiculum was a different weapon to the Pilum, designed to both fend off cavalry whilst retaining most of the pilum's body armour piercing effectiveness.